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President Donald J. Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) listen on February 28, 2017 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Pool/Getty Images hide caption

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President Donald J. Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence (L) and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R) listen on February 28, 2017 in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Pool/Getty Images

A day after President Trump tweeted, without any evidence, charges that his predecessor wire tapped his phones, the White House asked Congress to investigate whether the Obama administration had abused its investigative powers. The White House has yet to provide proof for the president's claims, which were denied Sunday by the former head of the DNI.

It's not clear what reports he is referring to or what prompted President Trump's explosive charges on Saturday. And the statement dials back several notches from what the President actually alleged on Saturday.

The White House went radio silent for the entire day following Trump's early Saturday morning tweetstorm, not providing evidence or an explanation for the claims the president made.

In the Sunday morning statement, Spicer goes on to say "President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016."

The House and Senate intelligence committees are both headed by Republicans. They are currently investigating Russian meddling in the presidential election.

Spicer concludes saying neither the White House nor the President will comment further until the investigation is conducted.

Though, 40 minutes later, the press secretary tweeted about an interview on ABC that would seem to reinforce the President's claim.

Mukasey was Attorney General under George W. Bush and was a vocal critic of Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign.

On NBC's "Meet The Press," on Sunday morning, James Clapper, the recently former Director of National Intelligence said, to his knowledge, there was no wiretapping on then-candidate Trump or his campaign. You can see a clip of his interview in the video below. When asked by host Chuck Todd if he could confirm or deny the existence of a court order authorizing electronic surveillance of Trump, Clapper said he could deny one existed, to his knowledge.

The statement from Spicer leaves more questions than it answers. Here's a sampling of the questions NPR sent to the White House yesterday, that remain unaddressed today:

- What led to the president's tweets [Saturday] morning?

- Can you confirm whether this is coming from Breitbart/Levin or whether the president is sharing information about an ongoing federal investigation?

- What evidence does he have that President Obama ordered his phones tapped? Can you please provide a source and an explanation?

- Did he speak to intelligence officials in the government to reach these conclusions?

- Is he confirming that his campaign was under federal investigation and that a warrant was secured to monitor electronic communications from Trump tower?

President Donald Trump called Sunday for a congressional investigation into whether his predecessor abused his executive powers during the election campaign last year by having Trump Tower wiretapped in connection with an investigation of Russian interference. "Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement Sunday. The congressional probe should be part of the investigation into Russian activity, the White House said.

In reference to Obama, Trump tweeted earlier. "Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, 'Tell Vladimir that after the election I'll have more flexibility?'"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday requested the U.S. Congress examine whether the Obama administration abused its executive "investigative authority" during the 2016 campaign, as part of the ongoing congressional probe into Russia's influence on the presidential election.

ADEN (Reuters) - Suspected al Qaeda militants opened fired on a Yemeni military checkpoint in the southern province of Abyan on Sunday, a security official and residents said, killing six troops and a civilian.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- The White House demanded on Sunday that Congress investigate whether former President Barack Obama abused his executive powers in connection with the 2016 presidential election....

Lawmakers investigating potential Trump campaign ties to Russia should also consider whether President Barack Obama’s administration illegally wiretapped Trump Tower, a top spokeswoman for President Donald Trump said Sunday.

“I think what is necessary is Congress doing its job. Let them investigate,” said deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

Sanders presented no evidence of any improper actions by the Obama administration, and she repeatedly refused to back up Trump’s explosive Saturday tweets accusing Obama of spying on him and his team. Pressed repeatedly by host Martha Raddatz, Sanders said Trump was merely wondering about illegal wiretapping — despite Trump declaring it as fact just a day earlier.

“I think he is going off of information that he’s seeing that has led him to believe this is a very real potential,” she said, adding, “He’s talking about: ‘Could this have happened?’”

Trump on Saturday called it a “fact” that Obama had tapped Trump Tower phones, despite no evidence of his predecessor’s involvement. His claim appeared to be based on right-wing media reports raising questions about whether Trump associates had been surveilled. On Sunday, the press secretary stated: "President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016."

Obama White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted Sunday that any wiretaps authorized against Trump or his associates arose only from legal law enforcement authority.

“The president of the United States does not have the authority to unilaterally order the wiretapping of an American citizen,” he said, noting that such taps are only approved by judges based on evidence in a criminal or counterintelligence investigation.

Earnest said the White House kept FBI investigations at arm’s length and didn’t against to “influence or dictate” how those probes were conducted.

The Trump administration’s call for Congress to investigate wiretaps targeting Trump or his associates comes as the House and Senate intelligence committees have already launched probes into whether top Trump allies had contacts with Russia officials during the 2016 campaign. House intelligence committee chairman Rep. Devin nNunes (R-Calif.) has also emphasized that he intends to probe leaks of classified information that have made their way into media reports since the election.

Without citing evidence, Donald Trump on Saturday accused Barack Obama of a Watergate-style “wire tapping” of his offices in New York before the US presidential election, a move critics dismissed as an attempt to deflect attention from investigations of his ties to Russia.

There are still senior people in jobs at the Director of National Intelligence office, the office of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency that ought to be fired, Larry Johnson, retired CIA and State Department official, told RT.

Newly free after more than a year in prison, Russian opposition activist Ildar Dadin described beatings and other harsh treatment he says that he endured behind bars. He said that it drove him to thoughts of suicide, but that he overcame the despair through belief in his own integrity.

Ex-NATO commander: US falling behind on military modernizationThe Hill
A former NATO commander says the U.S. is falling behind countries such as Russia and Chinawhen it comes to modernization of its armed forces. "We've taken it for granted. For 25 years we had the best ... armed forces in the world," retired U.S. Army Gen.

President Donald Trump called Sunday for a congressional investigation into whether his predecessor abused his executive powers during the election campaign last year by having Trump Tower wiretapped in connection with an investigation of Russian interference. "Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement Sunday. The congressional probe should be part of the investigation into Russian activity, the White House said.

In reference to Obama, Trump tweeted earlier. "Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, 'Tell Vladimir that after the election I'll have more flexibility?'"